Dear members of the Wake Forest community,
Naomi Klein’s This Changes Everything is a monumental, game-changing book depicting the pitfalls of modern capitalism, and how the environment, minority groups and indigenous peoples are being heavily neglected in the face of an overwhelming and nearly unquestioned brand of global capitalism which values economic growth over the dignity of both nature and its most vulnerable inhabitants.
Klein elaborates on the relationship between climate change, capitalism and the worsening conditions felt by citizens of the planet by discussing how humans need to regain their voice in a system which has abused it for far too long.
Early on in her book, Klein notes how we are living in a system that has made us believe for too long that change is impossible due to the political and economic institutions that be.
She asserts that we need to have a change in ideology and start to question market fundamentalism more.
She explains, “for a quarter of a century, we have tried the approach of polite incremental change, attempting to bend the physical needs of the planet to our economic model’s need for constant growth and new profit-making opportunities.
The results have been disastrous, leaving us all in a great deal more danger than when the experiment began.”
She beautifully illustrates how many of the current problems that societies all over the world are facing can be solved through fixing capitalism and giving the power back to the people, not to big oil, coal and gas. Klein believes that modern capitalism will result in the destruction of the earth as we know it.
The people regaining their voices are in a system overflowing with politically charged and often dirty money.
The documentary film version of the book tells the stories of those who are on the front lines battling against the fossil fuel industries.
With the help of filmmaker Avi Lewis, they travel throughout Montana’s Powder River Basin to the Alberta tar sands, and to South India, Beijing and beyond.
Originally premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival, Winston-Salem is lucky to be a part of a worldwide premiere next Tuesday, Oct. 20.
A/perture, the independent and locally owned film studio in downtown Winston-Salem, will be screening the documentary on that night.
This is a one-night event and tickets are running at $11.50. You certainly don’t want to miss this. On top of a stimulating documentary, several knowledgeable students from Wake Forest, who are part of the student-led environmental activism and education group Cultivate Consciousness will be on hand after the documentary ends to lead a Q & A discussing capitalism, climate change, Klein’s book and what they believe to be the most important issues facing our world, university and local community.
If nothing else, this is a good opportunity to see a fantastic documentary in a great venue and engage in meaningful discussion about the topics and concepts covered in the film.
As Klein says, “to change everything, we need everyone.”
Change isn’t possible if the notion of it is never entertained.
We hope to see you there.
Sincerely,
Wesley Skidmore
Danny Timpona
